When the Windows 8 Consumer Preview landed at the end of February, the Metro-style e-mail client seemed like one of the strongest tools among a sparse and limited set of applications.

Microsoft shipped a few apps to show off the transport-inspired Metro interface that will dominate the next generation of Windows PCs and tablets—but cautioned that none of them were really ready for daily use. The simplified interface of the Windows 8 e-mail client seemed promising, like the shell of an application that could become very good if given the proper care.

With the right improvements, it might eventually end up as a good option for tablet users, comparable to the mail client in Apple's iPad. But Windows 8 is for both tablets and desktops—and the latest version of the Metro mail client is not close to being ready for desktop power users. Whether used on a tablet or desktop, we think Metro Mail in its current form will have users pining for a real desktop application.

Unfortunately, Windows 8 Mail just didn't improve much between February when the Consumer Preview came out and in late May when the more advanced Windows 8 Release Preview shipped. We are less than one month from the final version of Windows 8 being released to manufacturing, with actual Windows 8 devices set to go on sale in late October. The e-mail client will continue to improve, but what's in the Release Preview isn't likely to differ dramatically from what ships with Windows 8's retail edition. So it's time to give the client a more critical look than we did in its first go-round.

Because they are frequently bought by consumers but used for work, tablets are expected to provide a built-in e-mail client for accessing both business and personal messages. Microsoft is obliging by putting Exchange support in the Mail client for Windows 8, but has put itself in a bit of a difficult position. Windows 8, Microsoft says, will provide all of a consumer's or professional's tablet and PC needs, in both touchscreen and keyboard-and-mouse modes. But if the Mail client Microsoft provides free to tablet users works just as well in PC scenarios, it's one less reason to buy the pricey Microsoft Office and its included Outlook mail client.

Microsoft's competition is Apple... and also Microsoft

For the basics of reading and replying to e-mail, displaying folders, moving messages between folders, sending and receiving attachments, and such, Metro Mail works well enough. The interface is definitely optimized for touchscreens, much like the mail clients on the iPad and Android tablets. For mouse-and-keyboard users, the Metro Mail client exceeds the equivalent program for Windows 7 in some respects, but lags behind in overall functionality. Neither one ends up being an ideal option for desktop users.

Enlarge/ Windows 8 Mail provides a three-pane view. The left-most pane can show either your accounts or the folders in one account.

Windows 7 doesn’t come with a mail client pre-installed as Windows 8 does. Users who want a free e-mail application for connecting to webmail accounts can download the desktop program Windows Live Mail.

Live Mail offers an interface that's similar to Outlook, but has its problems, such as only supporting IMAP and POP servers. Windows 8 Mail improves on this by adding support for Exchange, but takes a step back by dropping IMAP and POP (which rules out connections to Yahoo webmail), at least in the pre-release version. (IMAP support is promised for a later, unspecified date.)

The Windows 8 Mail client also drops the calendar integration found in Windows Live Mail, another decrease in functionality. The overall experience is harmed as the client just seems to be missing random features, like the ability to flag a message for followup. An option to mark messages as junk or spam also seems to be missing (although you can manually move a message to the junk folder).

On the message flagging issue, a Microsoft representative pointed out to us that you could set up a folder to file important e-mails away, but said flagging isn't possible in the Release Preview. Microsoft couldn't say if it will be addressed by the time Windows 8 is released to manufacturing.

A Metro-esque version of Outlook is known to be in the works, but while businesses typically buy Office for their employees, home users are a lot less likely to make the purchase on their own.

As Windows 8 tablets will inevitably be compared to the iPad, it would help if Microsoft could exceed the iPad's mail app in functionality. That hasn't happened yet. While the iPad mail client doesn't offer major integrations with the calendar, the iPad pushes meeting requests and alerts to the user no matter which app they are in, and the user can respond without leaving the current app, making the lack of integration much less problematic.

(Clarification: The above screenshot comes from a jailbroken iPad running Mail Enhancer Pro from Cydia. But even with a non-jailbroken iPad, you can flag a message by clicking "Mark" and then "Flag," and the flag will be visible in your iPad inbox and propagate to other clients, like Outlook. The forthcoming iOS 6 is adding a viewing option letting you see all your flagged messages at once.)

It would probably be easier to list the e-mail clients that don't support flagging messages for followup than the ones that do. But for the purposes of this article, we must note that the Windows Phone e-mail client supports flagging. Windows Phone also supports IMAP, POP, and Exchange Active Sync. In these respects, Windows 8 Mail is feature-deficient compared not just to other desktop and tablet apps—it's behind Microsoft's own phone platform.

The Release Preview has also led to users reporting frustration over the Mail client being unable to connect to servers using self-signed certificates. This could be a problem for businesses that issue their own private certificates, or even individuals who host their own mail servers.

UPDATE: One reader asked if Windows 8 Mail lets you view your inbox while composing a new message or replying to a message. The answer seems to be no—composing a new e-mail brings up a window that covers the rest of the application.

This limitation is also true of the iPad e-mail client. Unlike the iPad, Windows 8 does let you view the windows of multiple apps side-by-side (so you could have Mail and a word processor or browser viewable at the same time, for instance). But compared to most desktop programs, the inability to compose e-mail while viewing your messages list is one less option for multi-tasking.

Windows Live Mail not quite dead yet

Given the limits in functionality in Metro Mail and the fact that the Windows Live brand is being de-emphasized by Microsoft, we wondered if the Live Mail client would remain an option for Windows 8 users. At first, Microsoft told us simply that Live Mail will continue to work on Windows 8, without specifying whether that only applies to users who upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 and transfer their applications.

More important is whether Microsoft will continue to make Windows Live Mail available as a free download, and will continue updating and supporting the application for users of Windows 8 and earlier versions of the OS. With a little more prodding, Microsoft gave us some good news: "Windows Live Mail will continue to be offered as a free download to customers of Windows 7 and Windows 8," the Microsoft representative said.

It should be noted that while Live Mail will work on Intel-based Windows 8 devices, it won't work on ARM tablets, which use a special version of Windows 8, called Windows RT, that excludes traditional desktop applications. Major updates to Windows Live Mail probably aren't to be expected. Microsoft certainly wants to sell customers on the Metro mail client—if something as important as e-mail can be converted to Metro on the desktop, it’ll be that much easier to convince users of Metro’s overall utility in traditional keyboard and mouse scenarios.

It wouldn't really be fair to compare Metro Mail to Microsoft Outlook, as that's a professional (and pricey) e-mail client that should (and does) outstrip the capabilities of any free program. But it makes sense to compare the Metro e-mail client to Microsoft's own Windows Live Mail.

In setting up e-mail accounts, Windows 8 Mail takes one step forward and another back compared to Windows Live Mail. For the types of accounts Windows 8 Mail supports (namely, Exchange, Gmail, and Hotmail), the auto-discovery works like a charm. Connecting to your employer's Exchange Server and accounts like Hotmail and Gmail can be done just by entering a username and password. Windows 8 Mail supports Hotmail and Gmail through Exchange Active Sync. But as we noted earlier, it doesn't yet support POP or IMAP, meaning you can't connect to Yahoo Mail or other services that don't support Exchange Active Sync.

Adding an account, Metro-style. Hotmail has been doubled for some reason.

On the plus side, the initial step of connecting to e-mail accounts is a lot easier in Windows 8 Mail than in Windows Live Mail (provided you don't need IMAP or POP). I found the auto-discovery process in setting up my Yahoo Mail account didn't work in Windows Live Mail, forcing me to manually enter the IMAP server settings. Since Live Mail doesn't offer Exchange support, I also had to manually configure the client to point to my employer's IMAP server.

I’ve been testing the Windows 8 Mail client in a virtual machine. I tried replicating Windows 8 touchscreen functionality by streaming the VM to an iPad with the Splashtop streamer. Unfortunately, that didn’t provide good enough functionality to make a verdict on the app’s touch capabilities.

Ars IT Editor Sean Gallagher is using Windows 8 on a Samsung tablet PC, however, and says the Mail client works well enough on a touchscreen.

"The wide-openness makes it much better for touch than on a keyboard. It's meant for quick access to mail, and touch replies, not to be a full client," Gallagher notes. "It works. But if you work in Desktop all the time (which most PC users will), it's kind of a drag to use."

Mail is not fit for purpose as it currently stands. It doesn't support my primary email account (an IMAP account from AOL) and even though it supposedly supports Google account it was only able to sync my folder list - it wouldn't download a single email. More importantly, as pointed out it just isn't a viable replacement to the free desktop email apps currently available. Considering that Microsoft is staking a lot on the successful of Metro they should be creating definitive apps that people are envious of - not feature absent releases that people are desperate to keep away from.

I've been using Window 8 as my primary operating system since the release of the Consumer Preview, upgrading to the Release Preview when it became available. And I think it's worth pointing out that I consider it an improvement to Windows 7 as a desktop operating system - even the new start screen (though it has its issues). But despite that I have found Metro apps to be largely useless on the desktop, especially the included apps from Microsoft. Now I expect we'll see some compelling apps further down the line - in fact Cocktail Flow and XE.com are already very good niche apps - but the limitations of Metro are really hard to avoid. I have a 30" 2560x1600 monitor and rarely run any app fullscreen - most of the time I snap two windows side-by-side. With Metro I have to run in fullscreen or a limited-functionality side-snap mode, which is highly inefficient of screen real estate.

At the end of the day Metro apps do nothing to improve my computing experience and the limitations imposed actually make things worse it I were to use them. My concern is that Microsoft will keep moving ahead with Metro in future versions of Windows and drop Win32 apps altogether.

Thank you for a very interesting article, that goes beyond "platform Y has xxx apps so is better". The email client is indeed a key app for me, so a Win8/RT tablet seems out until something better than the default client comes along, and that will cost $$$ to add on top of the cost of the tablet. Thankfully the desktop seems well served already.

I don't get the point of bashing a beta product that isn't set to release for at least three months. It has been stated the mail client is gimped because of the fact it is a beta, hence the "App Preview" status.

It doesnt support POP or IMAP? Are they insane? That rules out using your ISP supplied email address.

I'm really hoping that Mail is going to get some serious love between RP and GA. Win8 is my primary OS at home and the only two things that really grate are 1) Mail and 2) People. The building Win8 blog featured these two apps quite recently and the app authors are acutely aware that neither app as they stand are comparable with WP7s, which is at least hopeful.

Windows 8's design seems driven to send users to "the cloud" run by Microsoft, so they can unlock data which was once stored on the desktop to monetize it. The idea is to create a walled garden where local functionality is limited (it takes a huge effort to even create a local account in the previews), and the Metro apps drive people to Bing and other Microsoft "cloud" sites. I am not surprised that POP and IMAP aren't supported in the mail client. If people store e-mails locally, they won't go to "the cloud". I'm surprised this angle of Win8 isn't being discussed in the press. This release seems to be an attempt by MS to drive traffic to their web services from desktop users. This release doesn't seem to be aimed at businesses at all. I think MS is counting on them to skip it and freeze on Win7. I would not be the least bit surprised if Windows 9 had a "consumer" walled-garden edition that can't run local software at all, only approved apps; and a "business" edition that runs "legacy programs" and costs more than any normal human being could afford to buy (with volume discounts for businesses). In this way, MS can cripple general-purpose computing.

I wonder if there is any future in software development if MS and Apple create two walled gardens for desktops. MS/Apple will need some apps written, and big-content media corporations will need consultants to write content consumption apps, but other than that the desktop will be locked down. Business computing will put workflow into web interfaces I guess, using J2EE and other back-end technologies. I would think Linux had a future as a development platform, except for UEFI's lockdown on hardware.

I sincerely hope that Microsoft can get their act together in the coming months. I loved the idea of a surface tablet, but if the OS features gimped software all the way down to basics like the mail client, I don't see myself looking beyond what is currently available.

It's incredible staring at that picture of Windows Live Mail. The same company that built the 'airplane control panel' style ribbon is also giving us 'simpler than the web' style Metro. I love the Metro aesthetic, but is there no middle ground?

The mail app on Windows 8 as currently shipped sucks, just plain sucks. It is useless. It is an embarrassment to Microsoft. It feels like a 2nd year college project.Mail is a core application. Companies like Microsoft and Apple should strive to provide the best, most complete functionality as a core part of their system. Instead we get from Microsoft something that at best my grandmother can use to read the 3 emails she gets a week, and even she would probably find the release preview version lacking.

You want to know how I really feel about the current mail app? Let's just say that my words above are a glowingly positive review of how I feel about the email app.

Just the horribility of the the Windows 8 mail app is enough to keep me from upgrading, recommending or purchasing anything with Windows 8 as the OS.

Wow, Microsoft continues to remove all visual cues from their GUIs. In fact, the GUI has almost entirely disappeared. Hey Microsoft, hiding things doesn't make interaction simpler. At first glance it might look simpler... until you actually try to use it.

This is obviously being done purely to achieve a trendy style. When extreme minimalism falls out of style, everyone will suddenly realize that these new metro interfaces are horrible. People will come back to the realization that on-screen controls and content should visually indicate their boundaries and functionality.

I don't get the point of bashing a beta product that isn't set to release for at least three months. It has been stated the mail client is gimped because of the fact it is a beta, hence the "App Preview" status.

Eh?

Isn't feedback the point of a "consumer preview" to solicit feedback and to allow people to see how it might affect them? In other words, this preview exists primarily to be criticized.

The saddest part about this preview is that I own and love my Windows Phone 7 since launch. All the Preview apps are vastly worse then their Windows Phone 7 equivalents. MS would have been better off just throwing on the Phone 7 applications and calling it a day.

I don't get the point of bashing a beta product that isn't set to release for at least three months. It has been stated the mail client is gimped because of the fact it is a beta, hence the "App Preview" status.

Eh?

Isn't feedback the point of a "consumer preview" to solicit feedback and to allow people to see how it might affect them? In other words, this preview exists primarily to be criticized.

Article based on a release preview "app preview" of the mail client, with speculation that it won't change in RTM. Why don't you do some actual reporting and find out instead of just making assumptions and panning it.

Yes, that's the whole point, one of Metro's design principles is fierce reduction. Hilarity with the idea it's "trendy" though, Metro's based on Swiss Design which has been around since the fifties.

What's wrong with pulling clutter out of a UX? It's not like you don't know a box with writing in it means "button", right? I'm not apologising for crap design and quite a few Metro apps inbox in Win8 are v.v. poorly designed indeed but that's mostly down to just good ole crappy design which is even older

It's hilarious to me that people still think POP should be supported. Yes, people still use it, but it's an ancient and horrible technology that no one but an IT Pro can figure out without an hour of research. If Microsoft just keeps supporting POP it'll never die like it should.

Article based on a release preview "app preview" of the mail client, with speculation that it won't change in RTM. Why don't you do some actual reporting and find out instead of just making assumptions and panning it.

Does contacting Microsoft with our concerns and asking them if the problems will be fixed in RTM count as "actual reporting?"

If it does, then this article contains actual reporting. Hence all the quotes from Microsoft.

Article based on a release preview "app preview" of the mail client, with speculation that it won't change in RTM. Why don't you do some actual reporting and find out instead of just making assumptions and panning it.

In case you didn't notice, Windows 8 is supposed to go RTM sometime next month, which means they have only a few weeks to fix the mail client. Had you taken time to correctly read the article, you'd have seen this :

Jon Brodkin wrote:

We are less than one month from the final version of Windows 8 being released to manufacturing, with actual Windows 8 devices set to go on sale in late October. The e-mail client will continue to improve, but what's in the Release Preview isn't likely to differ dramatically from what ships with Windows 8's retail edition.

Man, Windows Live Mail is a horrible looking mess. Windows 8 Mail looks beautiful. If I'm just reading and replying to email (the core purpose of email) I know which one I'd rather use. There has to be some middle ground here. If they could make Windows 8 Mail simply have feature parity with GMail's web app or iPad's Mail, they'd have a real winner on their hands.

It's hilarious to me that people still think POP should be supported. Yes, people still use it, but it's an ancient and horrible technology that no one but an IT Pro can figure out without an hour of research. If Microsoft just keeps supporting POP it'll never die like it should.

Article based on a release preview "app preview" of the mail client, with speculation that it won't change in RTM. Why don't you do some actual reporting and find out instead of just making assumptions and panning it.

Exactly. This app is getting major changes with RTM, including editable signatures, IMAP support, and more. This article just seems like they wanted to bitch about Windows 8, so they came up with an excuse to do so. besides, the Mail app isn't really meant as an Outlook replacement, it's to be used in place of the Hotmail or Gmail web interface. It's a simplistic way to send and recieve emails, not to carefully catalog ever single interaction you ever get, format HTML emails, etc. You'll be expected to use Outlook for that.

For all the metro apps on my desktop, I rarely (read: almost never) actually use them in the full screen mode, and for some reason, I don't see many tech people demonstrating the use of the "snapped" view, which is odd, as it's the one part about metro on the desktop that I find the most useful day-to-day.

In the consumer preview, the snapped view was useless. In the release preview one, it's actually quite useful (as is the snapped view for calendar).

There's a lot (a LOT) to be desired from the app, I won't lie, but I'm mainly a webmail guy anyway. The main thing I'd like to see is some hotmail-style sweep/block options (for the Hotmail accounts, at least). I think the best way I can describe this app in usage for me is that it's a very good email READER. When docked next to my desktop, I can read a lot of emails while reviewing briefs or stuff I'm working on.

It's a mediocre-to-bad email MANAGER though, which is what it needs to be.

(Though, I'll say this, you give me a Google Reader app that looks/acts like this and I will give you money for it)

Article based on a release preview "app preview" of the mail client, with speculation that it won't change in RTM. Why don't you do some actual reporting and find out instead of just making assumptions and panning it.

In case you didn't notice, Windows 8 is supposed to go RTM sometime next month, which means they have only a few weeks to fix the mail client. Had you taken time to correctly read the article, you'd have seen this :

Jon Brodkin wrote:

We are less than one month from the final version of Windows 8 being released to manufacturing, with actual Windows 8 devices set to go on sale in late October. The e-mail client will continue to improve, but what's in the Release Preview isn't likely to differ dramatically from what ships with Windows 8's retail edition.

I did notice and the release preview came out months ago (early may), which is what they are basing their review on. It isn't like they got some secret pre RTM build that is more advanced than what the rest of us are using. Not to mention the fact that the mail client in the release preview was probably already dated by the time it was locked down to be included in the release to the public. That is how Microsoft (and most software companies) work. They don't code the mail app until the night before the release preview goes out and stuff the assmeblies in for the next morning. the code was locked down and sent off while they continued to do work on it.

I am sure there will be some features lacking in the metro mail client, I am not doubting that. I just don't like to see articles that make assumptions about RTM software based on 4-5 month old preview software.

Article based on a release preview "app preview" of the mail client, with speculation that it won't change in RTM. Why don't you do some actual reporting and find out instead of just making assumptions and panning it.

In case you didn't notice, Windows 8 is supposed to go RTM sometime next month, which means they have only a few weeks to fix the mail client. Had you taken time to correctly read the article, you'd have seen this :

Jon Brodkin wrote:

We are less than one month from the final version of Windows 8 being released to manufacturing, with actual Windows 8 devices set to go on sale in late October. The e-mail client will continue to improve, but what's in the Release Preview isn't likely to differ dramatically from what ships with Windows 8's retail edition.

I did notice and the release preview came out months ago (early may), which is what they are basing their review on. It isn't like they got some secret pre RTM build that is more advanced than what the rest of us are using. Not to mention the fact that the mail client in the release preview was probably already dated by the time it was locked down to be included in the release to the public. That is how Microsoft (and most software companies) work. They don't code the mail app until the night before the release preview goes out and stuff the assmeblies in for the next morning. the code was locked down and sent off while they continued to do work on it.

I am sure there will be some features lacking in the metro mail client, I am not doubting that. I just don't like to see articles that make assumptions about RTM software based on 4-5 month old preview software.

The Release Preview this article is based on came out May 31. Hardly four to five months old.

How is it with multi-tasking? Can you look at your inbox and read other mail while you're composing a message (I'm guessing there's at least a painful way to save a draft and find it later, but is there a way that won't require 10 button clicks to move between a piece of mail and a draft)?

I use OS X Mail every single day and I don't have any problem with it. What's the problem you have exactly? I use it for my POP email at work, with iCloud and my yahoo account and no problem at all. Very stable. You are saying something out of thin air here it seems....

And the matter of the fact for this windows 8 email app is that not only it's ugly, it's also useless. I can't believe that Microsoft wants to provide pc users such a miserable email app with such limited and idiotic interface. This is shame!!!!

How is it with multi-tasking? Can you look at your inbox and read other mail while you're composing a message (I'm guessing there's at least a painful way to save a draft and find it later, but is there a way that won't require 10 button clicks to move between a piece of mail and a draft)?

Good point. I don't think you can do that. You can save a draft, but composing a new email or replying to an email opens a new screen that covers everything else.

One thing you can do is have multiple windows, one for e-mail and one for another application. But unless it's a virtualization problem or I'm missing something, I don't see any way to type an email while seeing the rest of your message list.

If I put aside any concerns about whether the final app will be shipped in a more advanced state, I'm still more than surprised to discover that most of those Metro apps highlighted in recent Building Windows 8 blog posts seem to have been made from scratch without even looking at what the Windows Phone ones are currently offering. I've got the ugly feeling that Windows 8 users might end up with applications that have actually less features than the very same ones found in Windows Phone. That's an OS whose latest version will be one year old by the time most of us will be able to use Windows 8.